DJKOR

Hehehehe. The trust that one has in another person to service their car. I'd be doing the same as well. I would have liked to have run my car on a fresh service just for the sake of it, but I'm saving that for QR.

For the new guys, remember to park your cars facing the same direction as the front most spaces. Sorry, but I have serious OCD issues sometimes and I'm too used to everyone parking in that direction :P

That 'triangle' bit appears to be just covering the actual merge. Ideally, you would want to make it so that all the exhaust gasses flow as freely as they can into the pipe that goes to the left of the picture. Looking at that, it nearly looks like the exhaust from the rear cylinder bank would be pushing against the exhaust from the front bank, or at right angles to it. Preferably it would be good to have both of the pipes 'aiming' in the same direction. Sorry for the lacking explanation. Here is a photo of the one on the Aurion. You kind of want it like this, but much neater. As you can see, the Aurion has a problem in that area as well:

It adds a little bit of extra stress to the engine/gearbox/torque converter mainly because one side is moving in the opposite way to which it is trying to turn it. I've once rolled down a steep driveway whilst in drive (in my old Camry) and noticed it stalled the engine. I made sure never to make that mistake again. When you're talking about a little bit off roll-back at the lights, I wouldn't be overly concerned about it. A tip though if you're worried about hitting a car that is right up you a** on a hill. Put your left foot on the brake and use your right foot to add a little throttle whilst you take our left foot off the brake.

^ You'll make the people in the distance think the sun is rising That is a wicked photo though.

Welcome Alfred. Thanks for the compliment as well. I hope you enjoy the Aurion as much as we all do here. They are quite a good car and as I've said before, Queensland is definitely the place to be with an Aurion. Slightly off topic, my Aurion was originally from Cairns as well. Judging from how well it runs, I can safely say that I must have really loved the weather up there. Cheers, Daryl K

Thanks. So Toyota's even spoiling the fun for the off-roader as well.

Probably would also need something to bend the pipe with as well. Best left to a muffler shop for thing like that unless you have access to a workshop.

So do I. I would absolutely love to have that hugging comfort of proper seat. Don't think I would be able to get it mod plated though thanks to Toyota shoving an airbag in the factory seat. But yeah, the more I look at that photo of Alex's car, the better it looks. It must be the red contrasted against the black.

Good point. I completely overlooked that. I have just just updated the FAQ to include engine oil. Placed underneath the 'which fuel' question.

It was good for a laugh or two. None of us expected Mick to do that. Standing around isn't that bad. Never really had any issues with it before. Just gotta man up Don't worry. He is going nowhere. He has been living on a parcel shelf for most of his life, so it's going to stay that way:

You've put in an epic request there Rowan.

LOL. Well it's still good. Half the time I see your car it is dirty, so being able to see a reflection in that photo is like a night and day comparison. Black is a better colour for a nice shine though. I just find it funny how you and Dave, both with these TRD's, manage to let them just get so dirty all the time. Poor cars

Automatic I would assume. Have you payed attention to the revs the engine is at when you do this? Are you selecting reverse within 10 seconds of a complete cold start? If so, wait about 20-30 seconds until the revs drop down to 1000RPM (or very close to) and then try selecting reverse. See if it does it much smoother then.

I did some quick sketching up on some paper here (if I can figure out the best way to tabulate it, I'll post it), but I have calculated that if you were to do a 5 tire rotation and you were to get 65,000km out of each tire, you will be getting a full new set of tires at around 80,000km. That was based on the following: You rotate your tires at 10,000km intervals for the first 50,000km. After that, you rotate your tires at a 5,000km intervals after that. Otherwise, if you prefer the 5,000km rotation intervals, you can just stick to that. Now if you were to do either of those, all your 4 main tires would have travelled 65,000km, and your spare would only have done 60,000km. If you want you spare to travel the exact same distance as the others, you would be making things un-necessarily difficult for yourself (ie. you would be rotating tires at ~1,000km intervals for the sake of getting a total of 81,250km of tire life). On a side note, at 75,000km, if you were to rotate at the intervals I mentioned above, all your tires including the spare would have travelled 60,000km.

Man, your paintwork is still in an exceptionally great state. The reflection on it is like black glass.

Damn, that Yaris sure does look nice. Love the photography skills as well. That one in the alleyway looks sweet.

I'll be there at the new meet time of 8pm.

The cats on each cylinder bank are the main ones that does the work. By having one on each bank close as possible to the exhaust ports, they can heat up quicker and do their job. The third one located down the line is there just so they can achieve Euro IV emission standards.

It depends on what you do. Not everything is a defect. For example, when installing a CAI it doesn't matter who fits it, as long as it is securely mounted, it will not be defectable. CAI's and SRI's are a bit of an iffy subject... mainly just the SRI's though. Some say you need to have it boxed, some say you don't. Some have been defected when it wasn't boxed, others haven't. There are certain modifications that require mod-plates for them to be acceptable, and you are best to consult with your local transport authority about what is allowed in terms of modifications if you are that concerned.

Sure they can: P.S. Is it me, or are those some mighty small slotted rotors?

Reliability wise, you can't say no to a Toyota. If you service it appropriately and take care of it, you can easily expect them to last well past 200,000kms. They wouldn't have a reputation for being reliable if they broke down all the time. As for being cheap to service, most parts for it that are required to be changed during a service don't cost much at all. Spare parts for Toyota's, even though can be considered pricey when going genuine, are not that bad compared to other car makes. The major cost involved are mainly in labour costs cepending on where you service it. You definitely won't be disappointed if you made the move.

VTEC Yo! He got his seat out of a Type-R Integra. Looking nice Alex. That is one clean Sportivo. Edit: As above as well :P

To keep up with my updates, here is yet another one. Thanks to the drive to Melbourne and back, I was able to get my average to drop down a little. It could have been a bigger drop, but I got a bit carried away on the trip down there. Anyway, here are the current figures: Aurion Fuel Consumption (Excel Spreadsheet) - At 4010km, my total fuel used was 417.14L and my average fuel consumption was 10.4L/100km - At 8385km, my total fuel used was 907.83L and my average fuel consumption was 10.8L/100km - At 12781km, my total fuel used was 1420.46L and my average fuel consumption was 11.1L/100km - At 15716km, my total fuel used was 1772.86L and my average fuel consumption was 11.28L/100km - At 18333km, my total fuel used was 2089.2L and my average fuel consumption was 11.4L/100km - At 21099km, my total fuel used was 2432.43L and my average fuel consumption was 11.53L/100km - At 22735km, my total fuel used was 2635.44L and my average fuel consumption was 11.59L/100km - At 24285km, my total fuel used was 2833.42L and my average fuel consumption was 11.67L/100km - At 30048km, my total fuel used was 3503.85L and my average fuel consumption was 11.66L/100km - At 34235km, my total fuel used was 3951.27L and my average fuel consumption was 11.54L/100km - At 38597km, my total fuel used was 4457.73L and my average fuel consumption was 11.55L/100km - At 45207km, my total fuel used was 5153.56L and my average fuel consumption was 11.4L/100km

Those yanks really fall for the placebo effect really easily. Removing the intake resonators and the carbon filter in the top of the air box provides nearly nil benefit. The only thing you achieve from removing them is induction sound. The intake is designed pretty well on the Kluger as it is and the stock nonwoven full-fabric filter is not that restrictive. The main restrictions that should be removed to gain a little power are all on the exhaust end. It will be big bucks though to get headers and a full system for a fairly minimal gain.